Sometimes, tooth loss can seem to occur so frequently that it seems like it’s natural for most people to experience it. However, tooth loss is most often the result of a condition that’s been progressing for a while, such as gum disease, or an unforeseeable emergency like dental trauma. Aside from an unpreventable dental emergency, many of the more common causes of tooth loss can be prevented if you can identify and successfully control your specific risks.
Improve the state of your dental health
Keeping up with good dental hygiene and regular general dental care is the most effective way to keep your smile consistently healthy. It’s key to preventing issues like gum disease, which is the leading cause of adult tooth loss, as well as tooth decay and other potentially high risks to your oral health. This also gives your dentist a heads up if you develop an issue that you can’t yet detect on your own. Through routine general dentistry visits, you can detect issues such as chronic teeth-grinding and other bite problems that might lead to extensive tooth damage or loss. Your dentist can also suggest an appropriate treatment to address any problems early, before they progress enough to impact your overall risk of losing one or more teeth.
Correct any issues with your bite function
Gum disease and similar oral health concerns can develop from inconsistencies in your hygiene and dental care routines, which might allow oral bacteria to gather in places that allow them to harm your teeth and gums. However, other oral health concerns can also compromise your teeth and/or their supportive structures severely enough to lead to tooth loss or the need for tooth extraction. For instance, if you exhibit bruxism (chronic teeth-grinding), then the excessive wear on your tooth structure could lead to extensive fractures or breaks that can’t be restored. Such conditions can also lead to bite imbalances that make matters even worse.
Replace the roots of any teeth you’ve already lost
If you’ve already experienced tooth loss, then it’s important to address the cause of it to avoid losing more teeth to the same condition (such as gum disease). Yet, the loss of your natural tooth structure, particularly your health teeth roots, can have long-lasting impacts that continuously raise your risks of losing more teeth. These impacts include the gradual loss of mass and density in your dental ridge due to loss of stimulation, which can make the bone structure too weak to support all of your remaining healthy, natural teeth. By replacing your lost teeth roots with dental implants, you can largely restore this stimulation and avoid heightened risks of losing more teeth.
Learn how to lower your risks of losing teeth
Tooth loss can occur from less serious conditions before you realize it, which is why it’s important to know and control your specific risks of tooth loss as best you can. To learn more, schedule a consultation with us by calling the office of Dr. Stuart Dexter in Prairie Village, KS, today at 913-362-8200.